WNS (Holdings) Limited (NYSE:WNS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

WNS (Holdings) Limited (NYSE:WNS) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 724,100 shares, an increase of 38.3% from the March 15th total of 523,500 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 388,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WNS

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in WNS by 1.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,121,499 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $282,158,000 after purchasing an additional 70,820 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its position in WNS by 1.5% during the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,662,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $198,753,000 after purchasing an additional 38,496 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in WNS by 36.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,034,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $139,298,000 after purchasing an additional 544,328 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in WNS by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,920,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $121,362,000 after purchasing an additional 234,139 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in WNS by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,551,716 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $98,068,000 after purchasing an additional 71,004 shares during the period. 97.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WNS shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of WNS in a report on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of WNS from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of WNS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of WNS in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.88.

WNS Trading Down 5.5 %

NYSE WNS traded down $2.82 during trading on Monday, hitting $48.52. The stock had a trading volume of 73,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 375,692. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.02. WNS has a one year low of $46.89 and a one year high of $92.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82.

WNS (NYSE:WNS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The business services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $315.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.21 million. WNS had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 21.71%. Sell-side analysts predict that WNS will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

WNS Company Profile

WNS (Holdings) Limited, a business process management (BPM) company, provides data, voice, analytical, and business transformation services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, WNS Global BPM and WNS Auto Claims BPM. It offers industry-specific services to clients primarily in insurance; diversified businesses, including manufacturing, retail, consumer packaged goods, media and entertainment, and telecommunication; travel and leisure; healthcare; utilities; shipping and logistics; Hi-tech and professional services; and banking and financial services.